AlwaysAisle

Yes, Yamakake = Tororo Wow, did not know there are many fans of Tororo soba/udon at FlyerTalk. It is good, but some do not like that gooeyness.

I think it is bit unusual for soba/udon place without croquette soba/udon, it is pretty common at places I frequent. I have never came across Kara-age (唐揚げ, fried chicken, not kaki-age isn't it?) udon/soba. Where do you frequent for soba/udon?

closetasfan

my udon/soba is mostly in NYC unfortunately.....so that's where the fried chicken comes from. My favorite way of eating soba at home is with a TON of daikon oroshi. More like daikon soup with soba.

evergrn

tororo... yuck!


I was always apathetic towards daikon oroshi until the takoyaki chain Gindako came out with onion takoyaki which comes with dipping sauce that you pour daikon oroshi into. Omg, smothering Gindako takoyaki in that daikon oroshi goodness is out of this world. Since then, I've really gotten into daikon oroshi for other things.

LapLap

Perhaps the idea came from duck meat and soba (they go together beautifully, particularly with leeks)?

This thread has also made me remember nishin soba (made with a sweetish marinaded herring). Found it in Nara but not seen it in Tokyo. Loved it!

Jib's mention of tsukemen a la bolognese made me go on a trek yesterday for a LapFamily approved fusion classic: jiajiangmen (guessing the spelling). Alas the only Alicante restaurant that offers it is closed until the 16th August.
I know it's a Chinese/Korean hybrid, but I wouldn't have developed a taste for it if it wasn't popular in Japan.

AlwaysAisle

Kamo Seiro (鴨せいろ, duck meat) is popular, may not see at stand up train station udon/soba places but sit down udon/soba restaurants may have those. Still duck meat is cooked but not deep fried with batter like kara-age. Just never seen kara-age udon/soba before.

Alright, now the question is which udon soup do you like? Kanto vs. Kansai.

Kansai udon soup:
Light color soup uses far less soy sauce but still has appropriate amount of salt zing from soup base made from konbu (昆布, seaweed) and use plenty of kezuri bushi (削り節, finly thin sliced dried fish meat). Lighter in color but has a good flavor.

Kanto udon soup:
Based on more use of soy sauce, hence color of soup is a darker. Flavor still uses konbu and kezuri bushi, but rely more on soy sauce flavor. World wide (outside of Japan) this Kanto udon soup seems to become more of a standard for udon/soba soup.

Which do you like?

I like Kansai udon soup, it is refreshing, but I vote goes to Kanto udon soup because that is what I grew up with especially on Chikara Udon (力うどん, baked sticky rice cake on top of udon) personally like Kanto udon soup absorbed into mochi (餅, baked sticky rice cake) give awesome flavor to mochi.

ksandness

I prefer soba (pure buckwheat if possible) to udon, and my favorite varieties are kitsune and kakiage.

jib71

Kansai style if there's a choice. But I've eaten far more Tokyo style in my life.

mjm

I am definitely in the Zaru soba crowd. Hot Soba is great in the winter but I like cold soba with a hot donburi set if possible.

Udon has a texture problem for its cut and weight. Just a poorly designed noodle. Now rough Udon would be awesome.